Belarus plans to increase food exports to China

20 December 2018

MINSK – Belarus plans to increase food supplies to China, Chairman of the International Affairs and National Security Commission of the Council of the Republic of the National Assembly of Belarus Sergei Rakhmanov told the media on 19 December, BelTA has learned.

“We have a significant increase in trade with China, including our exports. There are new export goods, including food products. Now we are working on adding new commodity items to the range of our food exports,” said Sergei Rakhmanov.

According to him, the Chinese market is huge, very important and promising. Belarus' major goal is to strengthen the production component, achieve certain diversification of manufacturing and exports.

The Council of the Republic plans to ratify the agreement on trade and economic cooperation between the EAEU and China. According to Sergei Rakhmanov, the document is an additional incentive to address this strategic task.

The agreement on trade and economic cooperation between China and the EAEU does not envisage any action on tariffs. “In a sense, it is a preliminary document,” Sergei Rakhmanov said. Specialists in the EAEU countries and China are working carefully on all nuances to ensure balanced trade, he added.

“China is our strategic partner. So for us the agreement is important not only in the format of the EAEU but also in the format of bilateral relations. We give this serious consideration. This work is being carried out not only in Belarus but also in the EAEU countries,” Sergei Rakhmanov noted.

Plans are in place to ratify the interim agreement leading to the formation of a free trade zone between the Eurasian Economic Union and Iran. The agreement envisages the elements associated with a reduction in tariffs. In some cases this will be significant reductions. Thanks to this Belarusian products will become competitive in the Iranian market.

The EAEU continues considering the matters related to the signing of such agreements with a number of other countries, Sergei Rakhmanov added.